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Tuesday, 19 June 2018

Head of Steam, Birmingham

It's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that, between planning a wedding, trying to get the perfect bridal bod, have some kind of a social life and working a full-time job the blog has been neglected. I'm back though - for a very exciting review!

Last week I was invited to check out the brand new Head Of Steam in Birmingham, located on Temple Street. A dog friendly bar and eatery specialising in cask ale, craft beer and cocktails. I headed down with Chris the day before it opened to the public to try out some of the drinks, take a look around the venue and try some of the food from their menu.

So first impressions were great - the venue is large so I think it would be a good place to go as a group of people as there's plenty of room for you all (top tip: they also have a room you can hire out for parties and events). The decor is very cool, lots of wood, quirky lighting and lots of tables - plus if you have a doggy then you can take them in with you which is awesome.

The beer selection. Now I won't claim to know much about beer, but even I can tell you that the beer selection is good - and large! The drinks menu is 20 pages and 90% of that is beer. So if you're a beer fan then it's definitely a place for you to check out, but just be prepared to spend a good 15-20 minutes looking through the menu and trying to decide what beer you want (as Chris did... every time he wanted a drink). The bar staff are helpful too, if you want some advice on a certain beer or want a recommendation, then they've got the info to help you out. If you and your mates love trying new craft beers and ales then this is the place go, in fact Chris is already planning a night out with the lads to Head of Steam. The one thing he did say was he wished he served every beer in the correct glass, but I do believe this is something they are working on.

The price point is fair, a similar price to competitors but what I really liked was that it wasn't JUST beer (like some competitors, not naming names) but they have an amazing selections of gins to try, a decent cocktail list and other drinks too. Therefore, this is a great place to go either as a date, or as a group of friends as there is something for everyone.

Now on to the food. I'll be straight with you, the food wasn't amazing but it was good. A lot better than I was expecting for a place focusing on its drinks offering. To start we had their 'The Besler' offer where you pick three dishes to share and you get the accompanying beer to try alongside it - we both really enjoyed it and even as a non-beer fan I actually enjoyed trying them and they did taste really good with the food. When this is bought over the serving staff will give you some information about the beers and why they compliment the food, which was a really nice touch. For mains Chris opted for the hot dog, whilst I went for the Chicken Milanese. Mine was great, very light which was needed after lots of drinking, good flavouring. Chris said his hot dog was good quality meat and enjoyable. For dessert we shared the Salted Caramel & Chocolate Torte - something I thought would be very rich but was surprisingly quite light and very yummy, I was quite upset I had to share it!

Overall we both had a great night at Head Of Steam and I've been recommending it to people at work who I know are a fan of the craft beer. They also offer live music on certain nights too and we'll be heading back soon on another date night to enjoy that!

Disclaimer: I was invited to try the new menu and drinks free of charge in exchange for a review on my blog, however as always all opinions are my own.